Today: Fitbit seeks to raise nearly $500 million at a valuation of more than $3 billion, which would surpass GoPro as most successful Silicon Valley consumer-electronics debut. Also: Pinterest and Instagram mature.

The Lead: Fitbit names its price range, could get $3B+ valuation

GoPro appeared to be a once-in-a-generation Wall Street debut for a consumer-electronics company, but Fitbit is looking to top it just a year later.

Fitbit updated its federal filing for an initial public offering Tuesday, providing a first glimpse at the price the San Francisco wearables company will command when it debuts. The fitness-band maker said it will seek $14 to $16 apiece for nearly 30 million shares; at the top end of that range, Fitbit’s IPO would take in $477.6 million at a valuation of $3.28 billion, and bankers have access to nearly 4.5 million additional shares if demand exists.

A debut of that size could top GoPro, Silicon Valley’s hot consumer-tech IPO of last year. Bankers sold GoPro’s additional shares — known as an overallotment — to push the total value of the San Mateo company’s IPO to $491.3 million, the first consumer electronics debut to top Duracell’s 1991 performance, according to Dealogic.

GoPro and Fitbit represent a new breed of consumer-tech companies in Silicon Valley, with large revenue totals at a young age and profits that startups in other sectors, such as cloud software, can only dream of. Fitbit earned $131.8 million in 2014 while nearly tripling its revenues, from $271.1 million to $745.5 million, showing that it is the most successful of the young wearables sector and pointing toward a sales total topping $1 billion this year.

However, Fitbit’s ability to dominate the wearables category faces doubts amid the arrival of more capable smartwatches, namely the Apple Watch.

“The smartwatch may kill off or stymie the growth of lower end fitness bands,” Forrester Research analyst Julie Ask said in a recent blog post on the Fitbit IPO.

Like-minded companies are also out for Fitbit, including Jawbone, which sued its largest rival last week, claiming Fitbit purposefully poached Jawbone employees who took intellectual property with them. Ask noted that consumers could use their smartwatches and mobile phones to collect much of the same information as a Fitbit product, while customers who want a dedicated fitness-oriented wearable could choose to spend more on a competitor’s product.

“Garmin, Polar, TomTom, etc. continue to do well in higher end devices targeted toward more elite athletes with higher expectations of precision data for their particular sport,” the mobile analyst wrote. “Apple, LG, Pebble and Samsung will probably create and sell more feature-rich smartwatches.”

“The open question is, will there still be enough interest in the middle?”

Those doubts sound similar to GoPro’s debut, when analysts wondered if GoPro’s action cameras could survive as smartphone cameras continued to improve and larger electronics firms offered rivals. GoPro has attacked its doubters by aiming to increase the amount of content users of its cameras can produce — plans are for virtual-reality rigs and software, and drones — while seeking to capitalize on the user-generated content.

Fitbit appears to be aiming for better software offerings and related health content for growth beyond its core fitness bands, as well as international expansion.

“We will continue to introduce innovative new features and services to increase user engagement and revenue,” the company wrote in its filing, specifically mentioning its acquisition of Fitstar, which offers personalized training.

Fitbit plans to sell about 22.4 million shares in the offering, while investors will sell almost 7.5 million shares in the offering. The largest investor stakes in the pot belong to venture investors Foundry Group, which will sell nearly 2.9 million of its 52.7 million shares, and True Ventures, which plans to sell nearly 2 million of its 40.9 million shares. Cofounders James Park and Eric Friedman, who serve as CEO and chief technology officer respectively, will both sell almost 700,000 shares from their identical stakes of about 20 million shares.

Fitbit is expected to price its IPO and begin trading on June 17, according to Bloomberg News, and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FIT.

SV150 market report: Social-media offerings growing up

Stocks dipped slightly Tuesday as two Silicon Valley social networks that focus on images began to focus more on money.

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann announced a new e-commerce effort for his social-media site Tuesday, though he said the offering will not directly contribute to revenues. Pinterest will add a blue “buy” button to certain pins, allowing its users to purchase the items they see without going to the retailer’s site, with hopes that it will spur more advertising revenues when businesses see the results. “People want to buy things on Pinterest,” Silbermann said. Instagram will also be looking for more action on its site and more advertising revenues, rolling out different ads that include “action” ads, which allow users to buy things or install apps through the ad itself. Facebook, which owns Instagram, increased 0.2 percent to $80.44 while opening a third artificial-intelligence research center.